John Menard and his longtime partner Sandy Palmateer are the proud owners of the Osoyoos Bottle Depot. Throughout January and all of February, they will be matching funds (up to $1,000) from local residents who drop off bottles at the depot and want the money from the bottles turned over to the Osoyoos Food Bank. Menard said the need to feed the hungry in our community doesn’t stop over the holiday season and assisting the food bank is his family’s way of giving back to the community that has supported his business since 1992. (Keith Lacey photo)
The owners of the Osoyoos Bottle Depot have been giving back to the community in their own small way for several years and they want to extend their generosity to help feed the less fortunate in our community.
John Menard and his partner Sandy Palmateer have been the proud owners of the Osoyoos Bottle Depot since 1992.
Throughout January and extending throughout the month of February, anyone who drops off bottles at the depot and asks that the profits be turned over to the Osoyoos Food Bank – which happens on a regular basis – will have that donation matched by Menard and Palmateer.
“We will match all donations made to the Osoyoos Food Bank until the end of February, up to $1,000,” said Menard. “It’s our own little way of trying to give back to the community.”
Menard said he talks regularly with Pastor Phil Johnson from the Osoyoos Baptist Church and was informed that donations often slow down dramatically following the Christmas and holiday season.
“The people who need help don’t’ just need help at Christmas,” said Menard. “People tend to forget that the need for assistance runs year round.”
If there is good response, Menard said he and his wife would consider running a bottle drive to assist the food bank early each year.
“We’ll see how it goes this year and go from there,” he said.
Johnson has recruited a small team of volunteers who will gather at the bottle depot every afternoon throughout the month of February to sort the bottles that are donated to the food bank by local residents, said Menard.
“At the end of the month, it’s my hope that there will be at least $1,000 donated towards the food bank and our business would gladly match that,” he said.
For the past several years, Menard and Palmateer have helped run the Friday night fish and chips dinner at the Royal Canadian Legion in Osoyoos.
For more than five years, the profits generated from the Friday night fish and chips dinner have been turned over to various local non-profit and community organizations, including the Children’s Wish Foundation, Shriners Hospital, playground equipment for Osoyoos Elementary School and the South Okanagan Minor Hockey Association.
“We’ve been able to run a successful business in this town thanks to local support and we’ve always believed in giving back to the community as often as we can,” said Menard.
Anyone bringing bottles to assist the food bank in the month of February is asked to help sort the bottles instead of just dropping them off at the front door, said Menard.
“It’s pretty labour intensive when people just drop them off and don’t sort them,” he said. “We appreciate the donations ,but we would also appreciate if they would sort the bottles when they drop them off or before they drop them off.”
If there’s good response to this, Menard says and he and Palmateer would like to run a similar program to help the food bank each year.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
